The lingering face-off between the Executive Arm of Government and the Senate over the alleged forgery of the Standing Rules used for the Leadership election of the presiding officers of the Senate in June, 2015, has continued to elicit mixed reactions among legal practitioners. Lawyers are divided on whether the Federal Government is right in its prosecution of two most Senior Presiding Officers of the Senate on the account of the alleged offence.
The man in the eyes of the storm, Senator Bukola Saraki has described the case of forgery brought against him at the FCT High Court, Abuja, as an attack on the legislative arm of government. Saraki also alleges that some cabals, whom he says had taken over the control of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, are now using the case to perpetrate their nefarious activities. But the federal government through the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami has stated that the trial is for the public interest and rule of law.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria affirms that one of the striking features of democracy is the separation of powers among the three Arms of government and that Saraki and his fellow accused persons are not above prosecution. But another Legal Practitioner, insists that the Federal Government’s prosecution of the Senate president Bukola Saraki, his deputy Ike Ekweremadu and two others over the forgery allegation against them is heating up the polity.
